The invention relates to a lighter comprising a flame generation device whereof an actuator portion is mobile along a longitudinal axis between a rest position, wherein the device cannot generate a flame, and an active position wherein the device can generate a flame, and a safety mechanism mobile between a locked position wherein the safety mechanism blocks the actuator in its rest position and an unlocked position enabling the actuator to move towards its active position.
In this type of lighter, a safety mechanism is present to prevent unintended persons, such as children, from using the lighter and igniting a flame, thereby risking injury to themselves or to other persons.
A lighter of the type described above wherein the safety mechanism is a safety member having a downwardly directed vertical portion and cooperating with a vertical abutment joined to the lighter when the safety mechanism is in its locked position, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,358.
To go from the locked position to the unlocked position when the lighter is placed in a vertical position, the user must cause horizontal movement of the safety member, thereby separating it from the abutment, and at the end of its movement, must depress the actuator vertically to initiate the phenomenon of flame generation.
A lighter comprising a flame generation device and a safety mechanism is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,448.
The flame generation device comprises an actuator portion which is mobile between a rest position wherein the device cannot generate a flame and an active position wherein the device can generate a flame.
The safety mechanism of this lighter is an integral part of the actuator and has a projecting portion which cooperates with an abutment of the lighter in order to block the actuator when it is subjected to a typical force which any user employs to operate the lighter.
This force is aligned with an axis corresponding to that of the actuator.
The teaching of this patent indicates that to release the actuator, it must be tilted rearward and hence, simultaneously, the safety mechanism attached thereto, in order to separate the projecting portion of the safety mechanism from the abutment of the lighter.
An axial thrust force must then be applied in a known manner to the actuator to operate the lighter.
In the view of the documents cited above, the present invention seeks to find a new lighter striking a good compromise between its user-friendliness for a normal user and its difficulty of use by an unauthorized user.
The present invention therefore proposes a lighter comprising a flame generation device whereof an actuator portion is mobile along a longitudinal axis between a rest position, wherein the device cannot generate a flame, and an active position, wherein the device can generate a flame and, a safety mechanism mobile between a locked position wherein the safety mechanism blocks the actuator in its rest position and an unlocked position enabling the actuator to move toward its active position, wherein the safety mechanism comprising a safety member having an active portion which, in the locked position of the safety mechanism, is tilted towards the actuator with respect to the longitudinal axis ZZxe2x80x2 of the actuator so as to be disposed against an abutment and, in the unlocked position of the safety mechanism, is disposed facing a housing.
The present invention hence proposes a lighter safety mechanism of a novel design which provides increased safety with respect to an unauthorized user of the lighter.
The lighter safety mechanism according to the invention offers the advantage of being simpler to implement than that of the lighter described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,448 because it only provides for the pivoting motion solely of the safety mechanism about the actuator, and not the tilting movement of the entire actuator, as in the patent cited.
According to a preferred feature of the invention, to change position, the active portion of the safety member pivots with respect to the actuator while moving away from it.
Thus the movement to perform the unlocking of the safety mechanism is particularly simple to implement for the authorized user of the lighter knowing how to use it.
According to one feature of the invention, the safety member comprises a bearing portion which is adapted, under the action of a first force, to make a pivoting motion towards one end of the actuator to which a second force is applied to displace the actuator from its rest position towards its active position, the bearing portion being arranged at the level of the end of the actuator.
Thus, when the safety mechanism has been displaced from its locked position to its unlocked position by applying the first force, the bearing portion being disposed at the level of the end of the actuator, the user then merely needs to apply the second force naturally to the end of the actuator to displace it from its rest position to its active position.
At the end of the pivoting motion, when the safety mechanism is in the unlocked position, the first force is applied to the bearing portion in a direction forming an angle less than 90xc2x0 with another direction along which the second force is applied to the end of the actuator.
Thus, at the end of the unlocking movement of the safety mechanism, the force applied by the user to terminate this movement is not, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,358, perpendicular to the other direction along which the second force is applied to the end of the actuator to conventionally operate the lighter, but, on the contrary, makes an angle less than 90xc2x0 with it, thereby facilitating the coordination of the two movements and naturally guiding the user in the second movement.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the pivoting motion of the safety member proposed according to the invention is more difficult to achieve for an unauthorized user of the lighter, such as a child, than a simple translation motion, as provided in the lighter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,358.
In fact, an unauthorized user such as a child could inadvertently use the lighter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,358 by pressing its finger at different places on the grooved portion of the end of the actuator which is a non-negligible surface area if the force it applies to this portion is inadvertently oblique and not perpendicular thereto.
On the contrary, to cause a pivoting motion of the safety member of the lighter according to the invention, it is necessary, by definition, to pivot this member and thereby locate the pivot about which the movement is made.
Such a movement is hence theoretically more difficult to execute than a simple translation motion and, in all likelihood, a pivoting motion is more rarely applied unintentionally than a translation motion similar to the one described herein.
According to one feature, the pivoting motion is executed about an axis.
According to one feature, the safety member pivots about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of movement of the actuator.
According to one feature, the safety member is elastically maintained in its locked position.
According to another feature, the safety member comprises the bearing portion whose pivotal movement has an amplitude corresponding to the angle of tilt formed between the active portion and the longitudinal axis of the actuator.
According to one feature, the housing is elongated along an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of displacement of the actuator such that, in the unlocked position of the safety mechanism, the active portion of the safety member engages in the housing when the actuator passes from its rest position to its active position.
According to another feature, the active portion of the safety member forms a flange.
According to one feature, the actuator comprises a cap to which a force is applied for displacing the actuator from its rest position to its active position, the safety member being arranged at the level of the cap.
According to a first and a second embodiment of the invention, the safety member forms at least one component mounted on the actuator.
More particularly, the safety member forms at least one element mounted on the cap of the actuator.
Advantageously, the addition of a safety member to the actuator does not put into question the entire design of the actuator.
According to a feature of the first and second embodiment, the safety member is fixed to the actuator via its pivotal axis.
This represents a particularly simple and effective means to fix the safety member.
According to a feature related to the first and second embodiment of the invention, the safety member comprises the bearing portion which is arranged around the pivotal axis.
According to a feature related to the first two embodiments of the invention, the flange of the safety member is attached to the bearing portion.
According to a feature related to the first two embodiments, the safety member comprises an inactive portion which is maintained in position with respect to the actuator.
The inactive portion does not participate in the pivoting motion of the safety member but, on the contrary, serves as a support point for the member during the pivoting motion and thereby limits the amplitude of the motion. The inactive portion is, for example, blocked by the actuator.
According to a feature of the first embodiment of the invention, the safety member comprises a spring having a central portion arranged inside the bearing portion of the member and around the pivotal axis and two end portions, one extending along the flange and the other merging with the inactive portion maintained in position with respect to the actuator.
This makes it possible to achieve a limited elastic deformation of the safety member during the pivoting motion.
According to a feature of the second embodiment, the inactive portion maintained in position with respect to the actuator is a flange which has a reduced thickness compared with the thickness of the bearing portion of the safety member.
This feature also makes it possible to achieve a limited elastic deformation of the safety member during the pivoting motion.
According to a feature related to the first two embodiments, the active and inactive portions of the safety member form between one another an angle less than 90xc2x0 when the safety mechanism is in the locked position.
According to another feature of the first two embodiments of the invention, the bearing portion of the safety member is grooved and/or comprises a boss to facilitate its manipulation by a user of the lighter.
According to a third embodiment of the invention, the safety member forms one and the same member with the actuator.
In particular, the safety member forms one and the same member with the cap, which does not require reviewing the entire design of the actuator.
According to a feature related to the previous one, the safety member is connected to the actuator via an arm.
According to one feature related to the previous one, this arm has a curved general shape which acts as a hinge for the pivoting motion of the safety member.
According to a feature related to this third embodiment, the pivotal axis is placed at the level of the arm.
According to another feature related to this third embodiment, the safety member comprises an actuating head at least partially forming the bearing portion to which the force is applied to execute the pivoting motion and the flange forming the active portion of the member.
In particular, the actuating head and flange confer on the safety member a general T-shape having a leg that is formed of the flange.
According to another feature related to this third embodiment of the invention, a space is provided between the actuating head and the actuator.
This space enables the actuating head to be displaced during the pivoting motion of the safety member towards its unlocked position, while limiting the displacement.